Recall from earlier modules, leadership is about alignment of vision, mission, purpose, people and processes. Successful organizations and leaders find ways to manage competing values and polarities. Some people in the organization like to create, others compete, some prefer control and some prefer collaboration. Managing competing values promotes creativity and innovation as well as the positive aspects of control and competition. Preferences and perspectives associated with these competing values create polarity dynamics. Polarities are interdependent pairs of values or alternative points of view that seem contrary, yet need each other over time to achieved desired outcomes. Uncovering and managing the missing logic in a polarity dynamic which results from a clash of competing values is an essential informatics leadership skill. Developing an awareness and skills in polarity management will contribute to your leadership success and give you tools to enhance your flexibility and requisite leadership behaviors. The law of requisite variety suggests the agent with the most flexibility in a system will control the system. Mastering competing values and polarity management will support the development of your requisite variety leadership practices.